Where did we leave off? Oh yeah, rain. It literally "rained" in our living room in two different spots. When we came down the next morning Mom and Dad had moved the furniture out of the room in case it would rain more. Dad quickly emptied the gutters that were filled with vines and that solved the issue. An issue that you need to attend to as this is Belgium after all...With the sunny days of September behind us we put on our boots and rain coats and made our way into autumn. The leaves changed color and we busied ourselves collecting the brightest colors. The vines that cover our house turned a brilliant red.
Some of our friends decided that they would change schools. This made us sad but we still see them nearly every Wednesday afternoon. Wednesdays are half days at school and just perfect for getting together with friends. There's a rotating schedule, so every 3 or 4 weeks Daddy entertains several kids and their moms.
Papy's family had a great big reunion. We were invited to attend circus school while Mom and Dad where touring this huge event place that used to be a warehouse and now houses tradeshows and art exhibitions. Only a third of Papy's family were present, which still means 200 of them and they were all very curious to meet us. After that we took a huge walk in the Foret de Soignies It is a forest south of Brussels, about 10 minutes from Overijse. We discovered lot's of different mushrooms, mosses and trees. Brussels has a lot of "green" space, and we do our fair share of hiking and biking.
The next Sunday morning Mom decided to take a drive to Tongeren, about an hour from Overijse. It's known as Belgium's oldest town (pre-Roman!) Ceasar's phrase "Belgians are the bravest" comes from a battle here where the Romans were defeated. But the main attraction on Sundays in Tongeren is this really huge flea-market. We each got a budget of 5 Euros and we decided to search for little toy cars. While we were very succesful at collecting our toy cars, Mom and Dad found something they had been searching high and low for: a dining room table. . . . . combined with the really cool chairs they bought on ebay, we are now dining in style! If we were not too whiny at the flea-market, especially Delphine who still hasn't found the bug, we were promised to go to this huge playground in Bokrijk. And so we went to visit the biggest playground in Belgium... Playgrounds are not easy to find in this part of the world and we must search hard. But Dad and Mom are getting good at locating them, so if you come and visit we can show you where they are. After a fun time at Bokrijk we had to visit Papy who spent the whole week-end in the hospital. We got a call from Mammy that Papy had been admitted. It seems his doctor didn't like some test results and had him checked in as a precaution. We went to see him and brought him some of his favorite pastries. He looked fine to us but Maman and Daddy seemed very concerned. It was the weekend and oddly, to us at least, not much goes on in Belgian Hospitals on Saturday and Sunday. Poor Papy was checked in on a Friday evening (actually Saturday morning by the time he got into a room) so that he could be observed and then he was stuck there all week-end to wait for tests on Monday... Conclusion, don't check into the hospital on a Friday in Belgium.
The next week-end, while we played soccer, Mom went to buy a washer and we received a dryer from Papy and Mamy (as they never use it???). Now we can get as muddy as we want as often as we like and Daddy will just take care of it! And talking about muddy, our soccer team has become something of a power house and our fans let us know how proud that makes them. All our parents do "the wave" each time we score. It's something Maman orchestrated, they are getting quite good at it. We suppose it makes standing in the rain on a Saturday morning a little more bearable.
We also visited the Wiels Museum, a brewery turned art exhibition space. It was spectacular! Artist Ann Veronica Janssens had installed a number of works meant to toy with the limits of sensory perception (that's all we retained from Daddy's explanation). Best of all was a rooftop installation, a translucent container-like structure titled Blue, Red, Yellow. We entered it and were immediately engulfed in a fog. We couldn't see the ends of our noses. As we carefully moved through the space the color of the fog changed and we were completely surrounded by that color, totally lost in it. Because the fog was so thick, the bright yellow, green, pink .. . was absolutely all we could see. We were living in pure color!
That kind of blew our 5 3/4 year old minds and we needed somewhere comfortable to come down. The kind of place that would offer something familiar and yet special. It was definitely time for ice cream! This time around it was Maman's call and she took us to Chez Zi Zi, a popular spot in Brussels. We were not disappointed.
All month long we've been talking about our Halloween costumes. Delphine moved away from last year's princess and decided to be a witch (Sorciere), though she was concerned that she might scare a small child. Zoe made the unique choice of hunter (Chasseur). She knew from the start that a camouflage outfit and some face paint would do the trick. There was some talk of a gun or bow and arrow but then she reasoned that might get in the way of candy collecting. Trick or treating has not been going on for long in Belgium and is mainly practiced in neighborhoods where you find a lot of American expats. Also it was celebrated on Thursday, two days before the actual holiday. Uncle Phillip and Aunt Deborah invited us to their end of town for what they promised would be a great night of Halloween fun. We joined up with cousins Louis and Daphne and friends and headed out into the night. Not every house was participating but those that did went all out to make it a special event. There were giant cobwebs and fog machines, tombstones, sound effects and scarecrows. At nearly every house we were greeted by grown ups in full costume, and the streets were packed with werewolves and vampires all trying to get their fill. Afterwards we all went back to Uncle Phillip's for dinner but nobody had much of an appetite left.
Scary...
On the actual day of halloween we took a drive up to The Haag, Netherlands to visit our friend Chupa. Chupa and Jurgen (when he's home) have a beautiful house in a quiet street in Den Haag with their really cool white cat's Alma and Stan (in tribut to their old stomping ground in Almaty, Khazakstan). We visited Den Haag in the afternoon as Mom had to take care of a few errands and Chupa spoiled us with some icecream. We went to see an Auction house and then went to purchase our chocolate sprinkles (specialty from Holland). We sprinkle sprinkles on everything we eat!
That night it was the grown ups turn to have some halloween fun. Chupa, Maman and Daddy went out to a halloween costume party dressed up as the Mexican Flu. They looked completely silly in panchos, sombreros, and mustaches. They also wore surgical masks and rubber gloves. Daddy had on a bandelero loaded up with Mexican Flu shots. In the Netherlands you don't need a license to dispense tequila. Viva H-Juan N-Juan!!
The next day, when we woke up, we climbed into Chupa's bed and watched two movies as the weather had turned very Belgium-like in the Netherlands. We tried to go see a dance parade but ended up in Mom's favorite shop, Dille and Camille, as were soaked. Mom proceded to buy tons of kitchen accessories and Chupa spoiled us with some toys. We ended up going back home to get out of the weather. It was a much better idea to watch more movies with Stan and Alma. That evening we ate the best ribs on this side of the Atlantic. We hope we'll be back soon. It the weather is better we want to go visit the Zoo.
The day after halloween is All Saints Day, or Toussaints, and in Belgium that means a week off from school. In this very Catholic country these types of holidays often mean a week off. Maman and Daddy had made the decision that we should change schools and so after a week off we are going to start all over at a new place. The school is Notre-Dame in the nearby town of La Hulpe. It's only a few minutes from our house and on Maman's way to work. We are sad to be leaving our old classmates behind but kind of excited and curious about our new school. We'll be learning in French full time, and will also be taught Flemish.
